Post by Diarist on Jan 19, 2017 7:10:51 GMT 1
The 10 o'clock meeting at the MoD didn't last long but it wasn't lacking surprises. The PM, Winston and Edward had been busy yesterday and early this morning. The PM had telephoned his counterparts in Belgium, France asking to meet THIS weekend. Winston had done the same and Edward had talked to both King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina. So we shall be travelling to Paris Thursday morning. Back at MCD I talked to our Belgian and Dutch generals then had a long chat with Charles de Gaulle. I asked if they needed help finishing their plans by Wednesday afternoon but they all assured me that they will be ready tomorrow. The post-Rhineland mission isn't that much extra work. I'd barely sat down in my office when COL Thomson called informing me that Lord Beaverbrook had arrived at the MoD. I collected AVM Freeman and MG Brooke then we walked over to the MoD.
In the meantime Lord Nuffield had also arrived and both were in Winston's office. "Here you are, Bob. Gentlemen, I need to talk with Sir Robert for a few moments. We'll meet you in the restaurant."
"Grab MAJ Wales on the way there," I whispered to Wilfred Freeman.
"Sorry about the surprises this morning but I talked to Stanley yesterday and he asked why are we waiting around. So we decided to get things moving."
"With telephone calls? So much for security. Now we have to move quickly in case they try to pre-empt us. But to be honest, I'm glad that we are moving things forward. That way I can concentrate on Palestine afterwards."
"We didn't mention any specifics, Bob. Worst case scenario is that Canaris gets wind of it."
"Wilhelm has a new rival, Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's protégé. His ambition is to have the SS takeover the Intelligence community. We are working on feeding him with false information to make him look incompetent."
"Are you giving Wilhelm Canaris any information?"
"No, none at all."
"Good. Time for lunch. Is there any special reason for today's lunch?"
"No. Just promoting good relations. I didn't get off to a good start with Lord Nuffield and Lord Beaverbrook last year. I want this year to begin different."
"There will be a lot of prototypes arriving this year so we need to be working with the firms."
"True. 1936 will still be a year of preparation. 1937 will be when there'll be a lot of equipment coming off the production lines."
At the table Lord Nuffield asked me about Scammell. "Are the rumours true?"
"I don't know about any rumours but I do own 50% of Scammell & Gardner."
"Gardner, the engine producer?"
"Correct. Scammell was their largest customer so I helped them buy Gardner for a stake in their firm. My 50% also protects them from being taken over by Vickers or other wolves. I'm mentioning no names."
"We're just expanding. We are also making good use of the government funds which are available."
"You would be a fool not to. Vickers are using the funds to train apprentices and are accepting military recruits. Lord Beaverbrook, what do you know about the new Bristol engines? Are they up and running?"
"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"
"If they have prototypes waiting for the Hercules why haven't they bought R-2600 radials from Gloster? They have about 50 in storage."
"I'll make enquiries for you."
"If there is a problem somewhere then we, that's General Brooke and MAJ Wales, need to know about it so that we can consult other engineers to ask if they've already solved the problem. Have Bristol entered the tender for the fighter with cannon aircraft because that twin-engine design could be used?"
"I'll follow up that too."
After our guests had left I asked myself out loud why they're not following things up without waiting for us to nudge them. I went back to my office and started preparing for the weekend.